Lock the Gate alliance is calling on the Independent Planning Commission to reject the Hume Coal mine, after the Department of Planning and Environment recommended against approving the project late last year.
Two days of public hearings into the mine, held by the IPC, will begin in Moss Vale today.
Lock the Gate spokesperson Nic Clyde said Southern Highlands communities had been overjoyed following the DPE’s decision.
“What’s now required is for the IPC to put the final nail in the coffin of this utterly inappropriate proposal,” he said.
“The underground mine would be located in Sydney’s drinking water catchment and independent experts have identified major impacts on surface and groundwater.
“97% of the 12,666 submissions on this project to the NSW Department of Planning were objections.
“This clearly demonstrates that our community agrees with the Department of Planning which ‘considers that the project is not in the public interest and should not be approved’.
“The Land and Environment Court recently ruled against a similar metallurgical coal mine proposal near Gloucester, and the IPC should take this decision on board when ruling on Hume Coal.
“The towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and our precious water catchments, must not be sacrificed so a multinational company can dig up coal and export it overseas.”